Standard Procedure
by Kaiyochan211
Summary: Caduceus Japan: the East's foremost protection against infectious diseases. The year is 2022, four years after the eradication of GUILT and a year after the treatment of PGS. Here, two young doctors will realize their potential when a new threat arises.
1. Two Stiles

**Okay, guys, I changed my mind. Trauma Center style is really hard to draw consistantly. I've re-submitted this chaper with slight alterations, mainly changing Andrea's nurse to Heather Ross from UTK2 and using correct medical terminology since I've started my nursing class at my high school's vocational school. In February, I'll be attending a local competition called HOSA and also SkillsUSA, competing in none other than medical terminology because I freakin' pwned everyone in my class's asses (rhyming :D). And now, I'm bragging and talking about stuff no one else cares about. Without further ado, here is the revised version of Trauma Center: Standard Procedure.**

**

* * *

**"Hmm," a pretty young woman stared at her newest patient's charts. The X-rays were inconclusive and the blood tests were normal. There was nothing suspicious about the CAT scan results, nothing except a fuzzy black cloud in her lungs. "What are you?" she asked the picture, kind of hoping for it to answer. She turned to the dark-haired nurse next to her. "Hey, Heather, did the Chirality test for Mrs. Okamura come in yet?"

"Yes, they did," said the serious-faced American nurse. "There were no signs of GUILT, PGS, or even Neo-GUILT."

"Well, that's a relief, I suppose." She sighed and sat down behind a small pile of paperwork. Sirens began buzzing faintly in the distance and got louder in a matter of seconds. Paramedics ran through the doors of Caduceus Japan with a stretcher in tow.

"Who's the doctor on duty here?" a paramedic demanded.

"I am," the young woman yelled in fluent Japanese as she dashed down the long hallway. She pulled her feathered brown hair back into a ponytail. "My name is Andrea, this is my assistant, Nurse Ross. What happened?"

"There was a car accident," the paramedic informed. "One patient needs his ulna reformed; the other was fine until he complained of stomach pain and collapsed."

"Heather, get a CT of his stomach; I suspect one of four things." Andrea shot off orders quickly, knowing there was no time to lose. She looked at the paramedics. "Get the fracture patient to OR 4 and have him prepped for surgery; I'll tend to him first. When the tests come in for the other patient, have him prepped." She entered the prep room adjacent to OR 4 and washed her hands thoroughly up to her elbows and threw on a bouffont cap, eye shield and face mask, followed by shoe covers, a sterile surgical gown, and sterile latex-free gloves.

* * *

"Let's begin the briefing," Heather said. "Our first patient, Jun Saruwatari, was injured in a car accident and fractured his ulna. Our second patient, Ryo Takano, was just diagnosed with several tumors in his stomach. They're benign, but they still require removal, so you'll be using the Powell Procedure to extract them."

"It looks like Mr. Saruwatari has some shrapnel embedded in his chest, as well," Andrea observed. "So, Heather, what are the objectives in these operations?"

"Right," Heather said, "the objectives are as follows: remove the shrapnel from the chest, suture any lacerations, reform the broken bone; perform a laparotomy and remove any tumors using the Powell Procedure, and remove any small tumors with the laser. Remember, we'll be performing these operations back-to-back, so work quickly, but don't overlook anything."

"Got it," Andrea said. She jabbed her arm outward, extending her hand, "Let's begin the first operation!"

"Looks like the patient's vitals are low," Heather informed Andrea. "Use the stabilizer to boost them." Andrea injected two syringes full of green liquid into his chest.

"That's good, for now," Andrea said. "I'll inject more if the vitals drop again. Let's get those glass shards out of his chest, they could interfere with his breathing. Hand me the forceps, Heather." She carefully pulled six glass shards out of the patient's chest.

"Those small cuts could get infected if we leave them alone," Heather said. "Use the antibiotic gel to seal them. Okay, there are some large lacerations, too. Please suture them." Andrea sutured them quickly.

"Now, let's get on to reforming the bone." Andrea smeared antibiotic gel on the patient's forearm with a sterile cotton ball and made a straight incision. Pieces of the bone were embedded into his arm muscles, so Andrea pulled them out with the forceps and sealed the wounds with gel. "Okay, now I have to put them back together," she muttered to herself. She lifted one at a time from the tray and put it in its proper place. When she finished, Andrea sealed the bone in place with antibiotic gel.

"Please suture the incision," Heather said. From end to end, Andrea stitched perfectly. To ward off infection, she wiped the incision with antibiotic gel and finished with the bandage. "Great work, Doctor," Heather praised. "Let's move on to the next patient."

* * *

"Perform a laparotomy, doctor." Andrea wiped the area with gel and made a long incision on the patient's abdomen. "Use the ultrasound to find the tumors," Heather informed her. Andrea took the wand and almost instantly, two shadows appeared. She sliced down the center of the shadows to expose the tumors.

The Powell Procedure had three basic steps. Step 1: Drain the tumor's cytoplasm to shrink it. Step 2: Cut around the tumor's perimeter. Step 3: Excise the tumor and put a synthetic membrane on the wound, affixing it with antibiotic gel. To remove all the tumors, Andrea had to repeat this five times and laser any smaller tumors that formed afterward. When the ultrasound stopped showing shadows, both doctor and nurse were relieved that all that was left was to suture, disinfect, and bandage the incision.

"Great work, Doctor," Heather praised at the end of both operations.

"I've never been so exhausted in my life," Andrea complained. "My legs are shaking like crazy." A faint buzzing sound interrupted their conversation. "I'm being paged? What for?" Andrea wondered. "There's a surprise for me about to come through the door? I wonder what that could mean?"

"Who knows?" mumbled Heather distantly. "We might as well go see."

"Hey, Nakamura-sensei," Andrea greeted the Japanese surgeon who was leaning on the coffee machine by the main entrance. "What's going on?" The doctor smiled.

"You'll see in about five seconds."

"I don't see why jet-lag is still such a problem with you, Doctor!" a young woman's voice shouted. "You've been all around the world, how aren't you used to it?"

"Gee, Angie, it's not like I'm doing it on purpose," a voice all too familiar to Andrea replied to the shouting woman. A young woman with super-long blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail and a young man with short, wavy brown hair and glasses walked into Caduceus Japan. The young woman stopped short upon seeing Andrea. The stunned look was on both their faces as the woman stared at Andrea, Andrea stared at the man, and the man stared at the woman. "What's up, Angie?" the man asked. He followed her gaze to Andrea, who was about six feet from them. "Annie?" he asked.

"Derek?" Andrea replied. Dr. Stiles smiled broadly.

"Annie!"

"Derek!" Andrea tackled the much taller doctor with a monstrous hug.

"Doctor, am I missing something?" Angie asked, seeing their identical hair color and similar faces.

"Oh, right," Derek said. "Angie, this is my baby sister, Andrea Stiles."


	2. Thoughts

Andrea Stiles hummed to herself as she leaned back in her cushy office chair. She was supposed to have left twenty minutes ago, but found herself immersed in a particularly difficult game of Solitaire on her laptop. Her ancient iHome was playing music from her equally ancient iPod Nano that she refused to update. She was so deeply into her game and the music that, before she realized it, Andrea was belting out lyrics from Lady Gaga's "Telephone."

_"Hello, hello, baby;  
You called, I can't hear a thing.  
I have got no service  
in the club, you see, see…  
Wha-Wha-What did you say?  
Oh, you're breaking up on me…  
Sorry, I cannot hear you,  
I'm kinda busy._

"K-kinda busy  
K-kinda busy  
Sorry, I cannot hear you, I'm kinda busy.

"Just a second,  
it's my favorite song they're gonna play  
And I cannot text you with  
a drink in my hand, eh…  
You shoulda made some plans with me,  
you knew that I was free.  
And now you won't stop calling me;  
I'm kinda busy."

As she prepared to sing the chorus of the song, Andrea noticed the pop-up in front of her Solitaire game that told her she lost. Her right eye twitched for a few moments, then her anger flowed out of her like a sudden hemorrhage.

"ARGHH! I HATE THIS GAME!" she screamed to no one in particular. She was preparing to throw the seven-hundred-dollar piece of pink machinery, until another pop-up appeared, asking her if she wanted to play again. The twenty-eight-year-old Caduceus doctor contemplated the question for a moment, then clicked "yes." As she sank back into her beloved office chair, the electronically-controlled door slid open, revealing her older brother, Derek.

"Geez, Annie, we could hear you all the way upstairs," he laughed good-naturedly. A bright red flush appeared on Andrea's face.

"Sorry," she mumbled. Her eyes widened as a thought traveled through her brain. "Oh, yeah!" she exclaimed as she snapped her fingers. She flicked on the light to the X-ray board and gathered her test results in a pile. "I've been wanting you to check these out." Derek made his way over to where his sister was standing.

"Yeah, Heather told me about this," he said as he studied the strange X-ray. "So, the test results all came up negative, right?"

"Yes," Andrea stared down at her feet, embarassed that she knew very little about her patient's illness.

"What are the symptoms?"

"Fever, high leukocyte count, bloody sputum, fatigue, and pigment spots on the right side of the abdomen, directly above the affected area." Derek looked slightly surprised.

"Annie, did you hear about the pandemic in America two years ago?" Andrea shook her head. "Many people in the Portland area died. It was called the Rosalia Virus. I'll call a friend of mine at Resurgam and get his opinion." Andrea nodded her thanks and sunk back down into her chair as Derek left her office. She placed her hand on her stomach, tracing an invisible surgical scar.

"Resurgam," the familiar word slid bittersweetly off her tongue. "Rosalia, huh? Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Not again."

* * *

**And they're coming to take her away, HAHA! Andrea acted very much like me in this chapter. She's the OC that is most like me, and there I go rhyming again. Leukocytes are white blood cells, sputum is like spit or phlegm, in case you weren't sure. Hemorrhage means bleeding, but when taken apart, "rrhage" means burst or burst forth and "hemo" means blood. So basically, her rage bursted forth.**


	3. Beginning

Andrea sat on the uncomfortable examination table, awaiting her diagnosis from the scruffy-haired sarcastic diagnostician. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen a doctor for an illness, let alone gone to a hospital where she wasn't on the payroll. She'd only come to Maine for a short period of time to attend a medical conference with the doctors of Resurgam; never did she imagine that she'd become one of their patients. A quick knock on the door alerted Andrea to her doctor's presence.

"Hey, kiddo," muttered Dr. Cunningham. The look on his face was grim; his always-present cigarette wasn't even lit.

"So tell me, Dr. Cunningham, is my illness what we suspected?" Andrea said quietly.

"An extreme form of viral hemorrhagic fever, known as the Rosalia Virus," Gabe stated. "Yes, Miss Stiles, I'm afraid so." Strong tremors overcame Andrea's slender body as she broke down and began to sob violently.

"I've wanted to be a doctor since I was thirteen," she lamented. "When I graduated with my BS/Pre-Med, I took off to Japan. I never told my mom or older brother that I became a doctor." She paused for a few moments to catch her breath. "I just completed my residency. I'm going to be a Caduceus doctor; I can't die now." The feeling of Dr. Cunningham's warm hand on her shoulder startled the already frightened young woman.

"Relax, kid," he said. "We won't let you die. We've got a great surgeon, as you've already seen through those tapings. Don't you worry about a thing."

* * *

"The anesthesia will start to take effect shortly," the mysterious doctor, CR-SO1, mumbled to the already-drowsy Andrea. "Just relax and the operation will be over before you know it."

* * *

Andrea awoke with a start. Her dream about her operation two years ago was surely realistic, but it wasn't a frightening dream. Something was wrong. Someone was in her apartment. She leaned over to her nightstand and clicked on her table lamp. There was no evidence of any human being in her bedroom, so Andrea stepped into her bathroom. Nothing. No one was in her kitchen or living room, either. She moved sluggishly back to her bedroom, hoping to sink back into sleep for a few more hours. A loud yawn echoed throughout the quiet halls of her home as she sank into her still-warm comforter.

There! On the large mahogany desk on the other side of the room, Andrea's snowglobe had been moved to the side. She grudgingly removed herself from her bed and went to examine her desk. Just as she'd thought, her snowglobe had been moved onto a sheet of loose leaf paper, blocking out whatever was written on it. In order to not tamper with possible fingerprints, Andrea grabbed the very edge of the piece of paper with her barely-existant fingernails and yanked hard, pulling the paper out from underneath the snowglobe.

"Good." The paper was completely intact. Andrea was now able to read the message. It was written in kanji and hiragana. The note said "始め" in large characters, obviously handwritten.

"Hajime," mumbled Andrea. "Beginning." She noticed a small fold in the paper. Behind the fold was more writing, only smaller and neater. That message said "死はすべてに起こります。"

"Shi hasubeteni oko rimasu. . . Death befalls all." The note was a warning. Something terrible was coming. Andrea glanced at the clock on her nightstand; five-thirty. She decided that she might as well wake up and head on over to Caduceus with her ominous message. She quickly changed into her work clothes and re-ran the flat iron through her hair before turning on the stove in the kitchen and making a single serving of black tea. As she waited for the tea to boil, she placed a light layer of foundation on her face. While she worked on this, she felt something press against her lower calf. She looked down to find her gray kitten, Gracie, patiently waiting for Andrea to feed her.

"There you go," Andrea said as she placed Gracie's food dish on the floor. She grabbed her travel mug and headed out the door, finding it less time-consuming to just take the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. Once outside, she hailed a taxi and spouted off Caduceus Japan's address to the driver. Her phone began to vibrate and she flipped it open.

"Moshi moshi," she said. "This is Dr. Stiles speaking."

"Annie!" Derek's voice hinted urgency. "Your mystery patient, Okamura, she's crashing. We need to perform an operation as soon as possible. How soon can you get here?"

"I'm en route," she said. She covered the speaker of the phone and spoke to the taxi driver. "Step on it, please." She returned to her phone. "I'll be there in ten. Get her stabilized and anesthesize her." The line went dead at Andrea's command.

"I guess things really are 'beginning,'" she sighed.


	4. Monster

"What's going on?" exclaimed Andrea as she burst through the doors of Caduceus Japan's second operation preparatory room. Derek, who was in the middle of washing his hands, turned to face his younger sister.

"Well, we've got her stabilized and the anesthesiologist is putting her under as we speak," said Derek as he continued to scrub his hands vigorously. "We've got less than ten minutes to prepare for surgery." Andrea nodded and hurriedly adorned her surgical attire.

* * *

"So, how are we gonna do this?" asked Andrea as she waited for Angie to begin the briefing.

"She's your patient, Annie," Derek said. "You lead, I'll assist." Andrea nodded.

"Let's begin the briefing," said Angie, Derek's trusted surgical assistant. "The patient, Hanako Okamura, was recently admitted to undergo testing for an unknown disease. We believe it is focused in her right lung. The disease still hasn't been diagnosed, so we don't know what to expect. Please proceed with caution." Andrea and Derek exchanged a glance and jabbed out their right hands in unison.

"Let's begin the operation," they said together.

* * *

The right side of Mrs. Okamura's chest was black with furious-looking pigment spots. Andrea gulped nervously as she smeared antibiotic gel onto the area and cut open her chest with the scalpel. Strangely, though, the right lung and all surrounding tissue looked rather calm. She looked pleadingly at Derek, who, in turn, handed Andrea the ultrasound wand and gave her an encouraging nod. In seconds, a shadow appeared in their field of vision and moved about under the outer layer of lung tissue.

"What is that?" Andrea gasped. Angie passed her a scalpel.

"Cut into that shadow, Doctor," ordered the more-experienced nurse. "We need to expose the foreign object." Andrea obediently cut into the moving shadow, thus exposing an odd, pyramid-shaped organism that was gold in color with a red diamond-shaped area in its center and two long, black _flagella _that helped it move around. The weird organism then cut into the lung tissue with its pointed tip, creating a wide, bleeding fissure of a _laceration_.

"It's attacking the lung," grumbled Andrea. "Angie, hand me the drain; performing _hemostasis_." The drain sucked up the blood pools, which cleared the laceration so Andrea could pull the tissue together and suture it up. She grabbed the ultrasound again, the organism having burrowed back under the lung. The moment the shadow was locked upon, Andrea cut the lung and exposed the menace. It cut into the lung upon being exposed, but it was a thinner laceration that Andrea could ignore for the time being.

"How am I supposed to destroy it?" Andrea griped.

"Use the laser, Annie," said Derek as he handed her the tool. "Try aiming at the red area on its back." Andrea complied and, as Derek thought, the organism was paralyzed by the sharp beam. After holding the laser on it for about thirty seconds, the organism curled up and died. Breathing a sigh of relief, Andrea released the laser.

"Look alive, Annie," scolded Derek. "Grab that thing's remains so R and D can analyze it." Of course! Andrea kicked herself for not thinking of that herself.

"Vitals are stabilizing," announced Angie. "Operation comple-," Angie stopped herself when the vitals went from the upper eighties to the lower thirties in less than a second. "What happened?" She turned to the operation field, where several fresh lacerations bathed the lung in blood.

Andrea began to panic. Two more of those things appeared amidst the fresh blood. Andrea's blue eyes darted back and forth from the operating field, to the vitals machine, to Nurse Thompson, to Derek, back to the ever-bleeding operating field.

_I have to make it stop_, she said to herself. _Gotta raise the vitals; gotta stop the bleeding._

"Annie, she's going into _hemorrhagic shock_!" exclaimed Derek.

"DOCTOR!" cried Angie. Andrea closed her eyes, her head was swimming. Colors swirled about her field of vision.

_I can't give in now! _Andrea screamed at herself. _I _will _save this patient!_ A five-point star formed in the darkness of her mind's eye. Everything suddenly felt calm. Andrea opened her eyes and took the drain without hesitation. Once the lung was clear, she grabbed the needle and began suturing lacerations at break-neck speed. With unwavering focus, Andrea revealed both organisms and burned them simultaneously with the laser until all traces of their tissue dissipated. She waited exactly sixty seconds before deciding that the organisms were all gone.

"I'm closing up the field," she told Angie in a voice that sounded like she couldn't possibly have been operating for almost four hours. Angie nodded and handed Andrea the suture needle, antibiotic gel, and surgical tape.

"Operation complete," Angie announced to the Stiles siblings. She pulled Derek aside. "Dr. Stiles, do you think that was what I think it was?"

"If you were thinking it looked a lot like Dr. Kimishima's Healing Touch, then yes, I was," said Derek.

"Derek, could either you or Nurse Thompson secure an O positive blood transfusion?" Andrea asked. "I would do it myself, but I feel rather faint." As she said the last word, Andrea's eyes rolled into the backs of their sockets and she collapsed to the floor of the operating room.

* * *

_**Flagella **_**are long, hairlike tails that help organisms move around. A **_**laceration **_**is basically a cut, but you TC fans out there should know that. **_**Hemostasis **_**is a procedure where you work to stop severe bleeding. **_**Hemorrhagic shock **_**is when a person goes into shock from severe heavy bleeding. And, YES, Andrea has the mystical power of the Healing Touch. Because this is a fanfiction. :D**


	5. Surprise

**Hey, I'm back! OTL sorry it's been so long. This chapter wouldn't even be up now if it weren't for my English teacher telling us to write a "short" story with ten vocab words from Thurber stories. AND she loved this story and shrieked when I started describing a certain pathogen that comes up in this chapter. Anyway, this chapter takes place about a week after the last one. Enjoy, and see if you can find the vocab words!**

"Doctor?"

Andrea glanced upward toward the feminine voice that was speaking. Her eyes stared at the woman for a few moments until Andrea realized that the voice belonged to her assistant, Heather. She stood up from the bench she was seated at in Caduceus's garden, hoping a different angle would eliminate the glare from the afternoon sun.

"What's wrong, Heather?" Andrea asked. The young nurse rarely shared her concerns; unless it was about a patient, Heather was not one to talk idly. Andrea occasionally found that to be an endearing quality in the temperate-natured girl as she didn't often care for simple-minded chit-chat either.

"You've been acting rather spacey the last few days," Heather replied bluntly. "I was just wondering if there were something wrong." Andrea paused for a moment, silently debating whether to tell her nurse about her newfound "heritage to Asclepius" or not. She was unable to respond to Heather's queries, however, because at that moment, Andrea's pager began vibrating violently, ordering her to report to Director Ishida's office immediately. Andrea shot a glance of apology toward Heather and dashed into the hospital.

Upon arriving on the twelfth floor of Caduceus Japan, Andrea turned and began brisk-walking down the hallway to the right. At the end of the corridor was the Director's office. Andrea stood in front of the door, collecting herself. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door, entering after a few seconds passed.

"You wanted to see me, Ishida-_sama_?" she said in perfect Japanese. She took a moment to observe the Director. He wasn't a large man but he had a powerful presence nonetheless. He was in his late forties and his obsidian hair was beginning to recede. His dark brown eyes had the intensity of a businessman, but all the doctors and nurses knew his kind demeanor. He pushed his rectangular glasses up the bridge of his nose and cleared his throat.

"Good afternoon, Stiles-_sensei_," he said in his deep baritone voice. "Please sit down." Andrea immediately made herself comfortable in the plush crimson chair parallel to Director Ishida's desk and instantly envied it. Seeing that Andrea's attention span was as short as ever, Director Ishida began speaking again. "You've been working here for almost three years now," he trailed off. Panic struck every cell in Andrea's body, fearing what he could possibly be insinuating.

"Yes, sir," Andrea replied, hoping her reservations weren't blatantly obvious.

"Stiles-_sensei_, now that we know your true surgical prowess, I'd like to assign you an intern." Relief flooded through Andrea, then anger at such an outrageous idea.

"No way!" Andrea exclaimed, not the least bit worried about being reprimanded for her insolence. "Not right now, especially with that new pathogen floating around; Matsuo-_sensei_ hasn't even identified it yet. What if I have to operate on it again? The intern will just be in the way."

"Would you like to make a bet on that?" said a male voice from behind Andrea. "I could out-perform you in any operation." The voice sounded derisive of Andrea, mocking the fact that she was a female surgeon. Andrea turned to face this voice and was shocked by its owner. A tall Japanese man in his mid-twenties stood before her, looking rakish in the blue uniform worn by new Caduceus doctors. His black eyes were piercing, but his shoulder-length raven hair threw off the handsome-but-serious doctor look he was obviously going for. Andrea gritted her teeth and turned toward the Director.

"Fine," she growled, "but I'm doing this my way." She turned back to the intern. "My name is Andrea Stiles. What's your name?"

"Koizumi," muttered the young man, "Kenta." Andrea gave Kenta a smirk and spun on her heel toward the door.

"Follow me, Koizumi," Andrea said with a slight _purr _to her voice. She bowed to Director Ishida and left the office.

"Over here, Koizumi-_**kun**_," Andrea said, enunciating "_kun_" at every possible chance, "is my office." She was about to open the electronic door when Heather burst through from the other side.

"Dr. Stiles!" exclaimed Heather, who was uncharacteristically panicked. "There's an ambulance on its way here; the patient inside may be infected with GUILT!"

Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin, otherwise known as "GUILT." A man-made pathogen created for biological terrorism in the early 2000s. It caused a few deaths in secluded areas up until 2018 when it mutated to become airborne, rampaging throughout the world. That was when Dr. Derek Stiles, Andrea's older brother, became a hero by successfully treating all seven stages of GUILT, making the disease obsolete until 2020. That was when Post-GUILT Syndrome, or PGS, set in, coupled with four "Neo-GUILTs" that were created by Heather's step-father, Patrick Mercer. Again, however, treatments were created by Caduceus USA and GUILT all but disappeared, only popping up in secluded cases every now and again.

Sirens wailed loudly outside Caduceus Japan. The ambulance had arrived. Andrea grabbed her portable Chiron Detector, a much-needed piece of equipment in this diagnosis. The patient was wheeled into the lobby where Heather was preparing for a Chiral Test. The machine whirred and whined as it scanned the man's body, who was making the job much more difficult by refusing to lay still. The Chiron Detector beeped several times as a three-dimensional diagram of a person formed on its screen along with the words "Chiral Reaction Positive" and a blinking red mark above the area where the liver would be. Andrea thought for a moment as to which GUILT strains could affect the liver: Kyriaki, Deftera, Triti, Tetarti, and Paraskevi. The Chiron Detector was unable, by design, to determine the strain and Andrea cursed its imprecision. Three of the possible strains she knew she could handle, but if the GUILT happened to be Triti or Paraskevi, Andrea was in trouble. She thought for a moment about having Derek be on standby in case she needed help, but she immediately scolded herself.

_I'm a doctor, too_, Andrea said to herself. _I'm just as good as Derek; I wouldn't be here if I weren't._ She took a deep breath and began barking out orders. "Get him to OR One," she told the paramedics, who complied instantly. "Heather, take Koizumi to the observation theatre and turn on the intercom; I'll see you in surgery." With that, Andrea dashed to the prep room adjacent to the operating room and prepared herself for surgery.

"Let's begin," said Heather as doctor and nurse finished the operation briefing. Andrea nodded as she wiped antibiotic gel around the incision site where the laparotomy would be performed. With one quick motion, she slid the scalpel across the skin and the operating field was opened. The liver had several small lacerations across the surface, a quality indicative of Kyriaki. Andrea breathed a sigh of relief as she skillfully sutured the wounds. She waited for the next Kyriaki lacerations to form, but they never came. Instead, a long, fibrous, centipede-like creature appeared from beneath the surface of the liver. Andrea's eyes widened. It was Paraskevi, a menace of a parasite. Its removal method was painstaking: stop its motion by hitting its head with the laser, slice it in half with the scalpel, creating double the original amount, suture the wounds the Paraskevi make, and repeat until the Paraskevi are small enough to pull out without causing damage. Of course, while the surgeon is treating the wounds, the Paraskevi are trying to do their main job - get to the heart and burrow into it, causing instantaneous death of the host. Andrea managed to cut the Paraskevi in half four times, creating eight half-sized parasites that continuously rend the liver, turning it into a bloody mess. Suddenly, one-by-one the Paraskevi slithered away from the liver, migrating closer to the heart.

"Damn," said Heather. "They moved up to the small intestine, we have to change fields."

_I can't_, thought Andrea, _I have to clean up the liver; but if I don't, Paraskevi will get to the heart._ She argued back-and-forth with herself as the patient's vitals began to drop. _Maybe I should use my Healing Touch; I can't slow time like Derek, but I can stabilize the vitals._ She stared at the liver intently, but the star didn't form. Harder and harder she tried, but her efforts were futile. The Chiral Reaction moved to the stomach.

"DOCTOR!" exclaimed Heather.

"Annie!" Derek's voice came bursting through the doors of the operating room. He was dressed in full surgical attire, as was his assistant, Angie. "I'll finish up here," he said, his hazel eyes filled with concern. "You get started in the stomach and I'll meet up with you." Andrea nodded and opened the next field. In no time, Derek was by her side and brother and sister worked diligently to remove the GUILT. Within the next hour, both Dr. Stiles were relieved to hear Angie's voice.

"Chiral Reaction is negative."

After the operation, Andrea sent Koizumi home. When he was gone and both nurses had left to clean and sterilize the operating room, Andrea asked Derek to come to her office.

"Derek, I-I'm sorry," Andrea said, unable to look her brother in the eye.

"What for?" he asked nonchalantly. This made Andrea angry.

"What do you mean?" she cried. "I almost killed that patient and you had to come save me again! I'm a terrible doctor; I shouldn't even be here. I have no right to be compared to you. I-," she stopped short when Derek placed his hand on her head and pulled her to his chest.

"Annie, you're too hard on yourself," he murmured. "You're still new at this and, believe me, you _are _a good doctor. Never once did I expect you to make it this far in the surgical field, and here you are a Caduceus doctor. You wanted to be a pediatrician the last time I saw you."

"So?" Andrea sniffled.

"Why did you become a surgeon?" Derek asked softly.

"Because I felt like I was supposed to," she admitted. "And. . . because I was good at it. I felt like I could cure anything when I held the scalpel in my hand for the first time."

"Do you understand now, Annie?" Derek said. "The first time I held a scalpel, I was so nervous that the poor patient now has a wavy scar on his abdomen. You know what else? You can learn so much faster than I can. Hell, you had to learn Japanese _and _study for med school at the same time, and here I can only say about five phrases. Do you know which one is my favorite?" Andrea shook her head. "_Nankurunaisa_."

"'_Nankurunaisa,_' that's Okinawan," Andrea mumbled into his shirt. "Where did you learn that?"

"Does it really matter?" Derek said as he stroked her hair. Andrea shook her head. Derek smiled. "I didn't think so."

**Disclaimer: I do not own Trauma Center, Derek Stiles, Angie Thompson, Heather Ross, Patrick Mercer, Caduceus, GUILT, the Chiral Reaction, the Healing Touch, PGS, or Neo-GUILT, or anything else copyrighted that I've forgotten to mention. I only own Andrea Stiles, Director Ishida, Kenta Koizumi, Matsuo-sensei, and all other generic surgeons and nurses that only appear when necessary.**

**P.S. **_**Nankurunaisa **_**roughly means "everything will work out somehow." A phrase borrowed from the anime Blood+, which I also do not own.**

**AND GREAT NEWS, I won first place in the SkillsUSA Southwest Ohio Regional Competition in Medical Terminology, then I went to the HOSA Ohio State Competition in the same contest. . . and failed miserably OTL. I'm not paranoid or a sore loser by any means but THEY TOTALLY CHEATED! Because someone wanted to go to Anaheim, California that badly. Yeah, that was terrible, I almost cried because all the seniors in my class that went to HOSA were all like "Kaiyochan211's a genius" and "I hope my kids are an eighth as smart as Kaiyochan211" and "Kaiyochan211's gonna get a free trip to California." They jinxed me, the bitches (jk) Soooo, in like a week and a half (weekend after Easter) I have to go back to Columbus for the SkillsUSA Ohio State Competition for a chance to go to Missouri anti-yay (sorry if you're from there). We leave Thursday after school and my effing contest isn't even until Saturday (un-woot). **

**Sorry for the rant dump. Next chapter really is coming soon. I have the manuscript written out, I just need to type it.**

**Angry fans: SO SHUT UP AND DO IT, BITCH!**

**Word count: 2,167**


	6. Identifying the Beast

Andrea greeted the morning with a roaring yawn as she clambered from her warm comforter. Dawn wasn't exactly her favorite time of day, but neither was midnight, so Andrea preferred the day shift at the hospital. She stumbled out of bed, accidentally throwing off an unsuspecting Gracie in the process, who let out a displeased "meow." Moving at almost the speed of light, Andrea tore through her closet, finding a gray pinstripe pantsuit and a dressy teal T-shirt to wear and hurriedly threw her outfit on. As she yanked her brush through her hair while trying to brush her teeth, she glanced at her alarm clock, finding that she was not running late, but rather ungodly early; in fact, the time was only four-thirty a.m., over an hour before Andrea should even be awake. Andrea sighed defeatedly as she knew more sleep was not in the cards; instead, she saw the extra hour as a chance to clean her apartment.

With a dustpan and broom in hand, Andrea marched into the room that consisted of the living room, kitchen, and dining room all-in-one. Her apartment was fairly small, classified in Japan as an apaa-to, a loft-type apartment consisting of a bedroom, a combined kitchen and sitting area, and a bathroom that, unlike the bathrooms in normal Japanese homes, had the shower, bathtub, sink, and washlet all in one room. Andrea immediately got busy tidying up her living space, putting her books back on the bookshelf, dusting the television screen, scrubbing the crevices in the stove, among other mundane tasks. Without even realizing it, Andrea had spent her entire free hour and it was time to go to work. She quickly filled Gracie's bowls with food and fresh water and placed them on a mat on the kitchen floor. On her way out the door, Andrea noticed a slip of paper taped on the counter. She grabbed the note and went outside to hail a taxi without giving the note's mysterious appearance any thought.

While sitting in the cab, Andrea remembered the note and pulled the scrap of paper from her pants' pocket and unfolded it to reveal the message. The message was written with a fine-tipped permanent marker in kanji and kana, two traits that were eerily familiar. The note said: 死亡神は支配するでしょう。

"_Shinigami ha shihai surudeshou_," Andrea read aloud, her blue eyes widening with fear. "The 'death gods' will reign." As if on cue, Andrea's cell phone began vibrating, causing the young woman to nearly jump out of her skin. She flipped her phone open to answer the call. "_Moshi moshi_," she greeted, "this is Andrea Stiles."

"Ah, Stiles-_sensei_," said a familiar male voice. "Come to the Research and Development lab as soon as you get to Caduceus. It's about that new pathogen." The line went dead immediately. Andrea shut her phone and shoved it into her favorite Coach purse, hoping that the ten-minute ride wouldn't take long.

"_Ohayo_, Matsuo-_sensei_," called Andrea as she burst through the electronic door into the Research and Development laboratory. Takeshi Matsuo looked up at her from behind a severely discombobulated desk covered in sheets of computer paper. His brown eyes were dark with exhaustion and his coal-colored hair was greatly disheveled. Andrea could easily assume that he had pulled numerous consecutive all-nighters examining the pathogen's data. Dr. Matsuo smiled broadly at his long-time friend and beckoned her to his desk.

"_Ohayo, _Andrea-_chan_," said Dr. Matsuo as he shuffled through the contents of his pigsty of a desk. Andrea stifled a giggle at her friend's pathological disorganization. She and Takeshi had attended the same medical school at Tokyo University and often looked to each other for help when it was needed. Even now, as renowned doctors of Caduceus, they still preferred each others' assistance as opposed to the more stuck-up, snooty doctors that are often a part of such a famous hospital.

"So, what are the results of your tests, Takeshi-_kun_?" asked Andrea as she leaned over the young man's shoulder.

"Well," began Takeshi, "it has no antibodies, meaning that the human body can't recognize it as a foreign object. It destroys any T-cells that come near it while it matures, severely weakening the immune system, which allows opportunistic infections to occur. If you recall, your patient originally came here for a chronic URI." Andrea did remember this; she performed multiple X-rays, MRIs, and CAT Scans, each showing a small shadow in the superior lobe of the right lung.

"So, what's it made of?" Andrea asked. "Have you found a way to make an antiserum or revise an immunoglobulin or something like that?" Andrea really had no mind for research or what went on while something was being studied.

"It's man-made, and if you look closely, its base makeup is nearly identical to GUILT, except that it has zero Chirality. Honestly, I can't begin to think of how that happened, or how that pathogen changed so much in appearance, since it _is_ directly based off of Kyriaki. However, I _have _found a possible way to diagnose it: the organism feeds off glucose, so an infected person would have very low glucose levels. This is only a temporary and extremely flawed method until I can find a way to cause a reaction that would be a definite diagnostic, pinpoint its location in the body, and the strain of the pathogen. If you do suspect an infection of that pathogen, check the patient's blood sugar; the meter should read below sixty, but _don't_ try to boost the levels, it'll only hurt them. Just perform a CT scan to find the affected area and operate as soon as possible. You'll be operating in the dark should a new strain arise, but you'll be fine." As Takeshi stopped to catch his breath, Andrea's pager began beeping.

"Thanks, Takeshi-_kun_," Andrea said. With that, Andrea raced from the laboratory to the lobby, as per Derek's instructions: "Get to lobby, Annie, pt with FUO and odd symptoms." As she passed the floor's nurses' station, Andrea swiped a glucose meter, needle, and test strips, hoping the FUO was just a bad case of the flu.

In the lobby sat a teenage boy in a high school uniform. He was doubled over in pain and sweating profusely. Derek and Angie were sitting with the boy, trying to give him aspirin and orange juice, but the boy refused.

"Hello," Andrea said as she crouched down to the boy's eye level. "My name is Dr. Stiles and I'll be taking care of you."

"Stiles-_sensei_?" said the boy. "I am Takahashi Ichiro. Please help me." Andrea grabbed Ichiro's hand and extended his third finger.

"I'm going to check your blood sugar, is that okay?" Ichiro nodded weakly. As Andrea prepared for the test, Angie began to speak to Ichiro in her newly-learned Japanese.

"Takahashi-_kun_, do your parents know that you're here?" Her rhythm was unnatural, but her pronunciation was nearly perfect. The boy shook his head.

"I-I started feeling sick on my way to school," Ichiro was shaking violently. "I never called them; since this place was on my way, I just came here." The glucose meter began beeping to indicate its results. The reading was fifty-seven, a level low enough to send an adult into a hypoglycemic coma.

"Ms. Thompson, would you go call Takahashi-_kun_'s parents and school?" Andrea said quietly. "Also, please locate Heather while you're at it." Angie nodded and took off to the nearest phone.

"Well, Annie?" said Derek. "What's the diagnosis?"

"Take him to radiology. I need an X-ray and a CT scan of his abdomen." For a moment, Andrea had forgotten that she was speaking to a doctor and not a nurse. Derek complied anyway, knowing the way his sister was, and began ushering Ichiro to the radiology department.

Andrea stared intently at the CT scan's results. In the stomach, there was a translucent mass, but nothing else. Andrea knew that there was only one thing that could be done. She turned to Derek, her unofficial partner, and their nurses, Heather and Angie.

"Let's operate."

**And there is chapter six. Not nearly as eventful as the last one, but too much action is just as bad for a story as not enough. Going down the line of GUILTs, this next pathogen should be similar to Deftera in the way it operates. Actually, what I'm trying to do with my pathogens is to make them something halfway between GUILT and Stigma, since this takes place right in the middle and I think that they all mutated off of each other, since Cheir is so similar to Kyriaki and Soma is along the lines of Deftera and so on. Although, what would be something between Paraskevi and Brachion? Suggestions are welcome and will be credited.**

**Also, I need some operation phrases for Andrea, because it's been pointed out that she should have some original ones, not just Derek's. There isn't much that can be done to "Let's start the operation" but I would appreciate some input and if I use one, you would be credited.**

**OH! And I won 2nd place at the SkillsUSA contest this weekend! I'm the second-best medical terminologist in the state of Ohio, as a junior in high school!**

**Word Count: 1,559**


	7. The Next Pathogen

**Fret not, I have returned! Sorry it's taken me so long, but I've been busy (*cough*lazy*cough*) I was going to post this on June 5th as my birthday present to y'all, 17, WOOT! So, I'm taking my nurse aide class early so I don't have to do it during school and can learn phlebotomy or something. . . there's this woman in my class named Andrea. When I realized that, I smiled. So I thought I should submit this, since it's been 1/4 done since, like, April. ANYWAY, it's time for Takahashi-kun's operation.**

* * *

From the adjacent prep room, Andrea performed a surgical handscrub absentmindedly as she watched the happenings of the operating room through the one-way window. The anesthesiologist was administering the sedative into Ichiro Takahashi's veins, preparing him for the operation. The young teenager's face held a look of anxiety coupled with pure fear. Andrea looked on with sympathy as she scrubbed her elbows with the betadine brush. Several seconds passed as she proceeded to rinse the copper-colored disinfectant from her porcelain skin and dried her arms with a sterile towel. She quickly donned the dark silvery-green sterile gown. While a nurse aide tied the neck and waist ties, Andrea slid her hands into size seven white sterile gloves, which finished her preparations. She looked to Derek, who was already dressed, and gave a definitive nod.

* * *

"Let's begin the briefing," said Heather. "The patient is fifteen-year-old Ichiro Takahashi. He came in this morning complaining of severe stomach pain and was diagnosed with the second strain of the unknown pathogen that has close relations to GUILT. Remember that we have no idea what this strain will do, so be careful." Andrea and Derek nodded and simultaneously outstretched their right arms.

"Let's begin the operation!" they declared.

* * *

This surgery would require a _laparotomy_, so Andrea took the scalpel and pressed firmly on the boy's abdomen, creating an incision that would reveal the surface of his stomach. For the moment, the field was calm, so the team would have a moment to collect themselves and formulate a plan of action. They had no sooner relaxed when a gelatinous being surfaced. Its main body was a pale green color with a hard, ruby-like area in its center. It moved around much like an amoeba would, with a small portion of its body moving to its desired location and the rest of it pulling over a second later. Andrea stared at it in disbelief, but had a feeling that the drain would be vital here. Suddenly, the creature seeped into the gastric wall and reappeared in a different area. Andrea, remembering Deftera's _oncogenetic _ability, grabbed the ultrasound and examined the amoeba's previous location. As she suspected, a black shadow appeared on the monitor.

"It's creating tumors!" exclaimed Angie.

_I'll have to excise those later,_ Andrea thought. She held out her right hand.

"Drain." Confused, Angie obediently placed the drain in Andrea's outstretched hand. The tip of the drain lightly touched the surface of the amoebic pathogen and it was activated, sucking up the semifluid body. When the main body was gone, the ruby-like area dug into the gastric wall, only exposing its tip. Around the jewel-like shard, three vessels attached themselves to it, securing it in place.

"It's _angiogenetic_, too?" gasped Heather. Andrea said nothing, but extended her hand, motioning for the scalpel. Heather quickly placed the sharp tool in the doctor's hand. Andrea held the scalpel firmly on one of the bulging blood vessels, working to sever it and avoid severe hemorrhaging. As the first vessel disappeared, Andrea moved to the second, then to the third. When all three blood vessels were gone, Andrea used the forceps to gently pull out the red shard and place it on a sterile tray.

"Take that to R and D when we're finished," she said monotonously, waiting for the pathogen to reappear.

This time, two smaller amoebas formed, neither with a ruby core. Derek was already on them the moment they appeared, taking the drain and sucking the bodies up, but this time, the drain was stopped before the semifluid was gone from the chamber. Angie immediately held out a sterilized pitri dish for Derek to release the pathogen into, a sample also for Research and Development to analyze. From behind her surgical mask, Andrea smiled, happy that the four of them made such an efficient team. Her joy was interrupted, though, as Ichiro Takahashi began to convulse, indicating that the pathogen was appearing for the final time.

The last amoeba was frightening. Its gelatinous fluid covered the entire outer surface of the stomach and its core was the size of a large tumor. It didn't move around the field. Instead, small portions of the semifluid would sink into the epithelium and create more tumors. Andrea stared at the being with ferocious intensity, wondering how she and Derek could ever stop it. She found herself losing hope, thinking that they wouldn't be able to save Ichiro. But then, Andrea thought about the boy's life. She thought about his parents, how they would react, his friends, his teachers, maybe even his pets, she wondered if Ichiro had any siblings. Suddenly, a wave of resolve rushed through Andrea's body and she was even more determined than ever to save this boy.

Then everything was still.

Andrea moved like a woman possessed. She grabbed the drain from the tray and began excising the pathogen. With each portion that was removed, the patient's vitals rose by five, ten, fifteen. The vitals went from the low thirties to the mid-sixties in seconds. Derek stared in disbelief. This was Annie's Healing Touch in its most-concentrated state. It was far from refined, but its potential was obvious. However, despite the fact that the vitals had risen significantly, Andrea had only removed about one-eighth of the pathogen's mass. Derek drew the star in his mind and quickly joined his sister in the draining process. The two nurses stared in awe at this spectacle of the two Healing Touches working as one. The semifluid was decreasing rapidly as the vitals continued to rise. In less than a minute, all that was left of the pathogen was its core.

The core had already embedded itself into the epithelium and the vessels had already attached. This time, with the size of the core, it resembled an angioma, which had a fairly simple removal process. Andrea and Derek made quick work of the vessels, leaving the ruby core exposed. Since it was so large, just pulling it out could be a fatal mistake. Instead, Andrea used the scalpel to cut around the perimeter to loosen it, then pulled it out with the forceps. She drain the blood pool that had formed and affixed a synthetic membrane to the wound. With that, the pathogen was totally removed and all that was left was to excise the six tumors it had formed throughout the operation. Soon enough, Andrea was suturing the incision and cleaning it with antibiotic gel. As Derek covered the wound with tape, Angie and Heather announced the operation as a success.

* * *

Back in the prep room, the doctors and nurses were quietly removing their soiled gowns, gloves, and masks, each silently congratulating themselves on a job well-done. Andrea smiled as she watched some aides whom she didn't know by name while they wheeled Ichiro Takahashi from the operating room.

* * *

Out in the lobby, Andrea, Derek, Angie, and Heather were greeted by Director Ishida and a very worried-looking couple in their early forties. The surgical team bowed in unison to their visitors.

"Stiles-_sensei_," said Director Ishida, addressing both of them, "these are Takahashi-_kun_'s parents." Andrea smiled and offered her hand to the Takahashis.

"_Konnichiwa_," she said in her usual friendly tone. "My name is Andrea Stiles, I led the operation on your son." The husband was the first to shake her hand. His frown turned to a relieved smile as he began to speak.

"It is nice to meet you, _sensei_," he replied as he offered Andrea his business card and she looked it over. "I am Takahashi Daisuke. Thank you for taking care of Ichiro." He bowed to her as he and his wife took their leave to go see their son in his room. Andrea felt hot tears form in her eyes, so happy that she was able to improve the lives of an entire family with just her hands.

"Are you okay, Annie?" Derek asked as he placed his hand on her shoulder. Andrea nodded as she wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her lab coat. She caught a glimpse of the clock out of the corner of her eye and did a double-take. The time was well-past six p.m. They had been in the operating room for almost seven hours! Just now, as her orientation of time returned, Andrea's stomach growled loudly, declaring its disapproval of not being fed for nearly twenty-four hours. Seeing as it was time for them to leave anyway, Andrea turned to her company and grinned.

"Let's celebrate!"

* * *

"_KAMPAI_!" the four cheered as they raised their _sake _cups to celebrate the successful treatment of another pathogen. The conversation was light and airy and the group's good mood was infectious to the rest of the Shinjuku restaurant. Derek munched on a _yakitori _as they waited for their waitress to bring the pot full of _shabu_-_shabu _ingredients. They refilled each other's cups as they emptied and Heather and Andrea got a laugh as they watched Derek and Angie attempt to use chopsticks. For hours they talked, drank, ate, and laughed and the restaurant was closing before they even realized it. As they left the restaurant, they agreed that they had to get together like this at least once a month. Andrea informed Derek and Angie that they could do it sooner than they'd hoped, seeing as the Tanabata festival was fast-approaching. Heather left to catch the subway before the last one ran for the night. Andrea, knowing that Derek and Angie would have trouble navigating the city even without the hinderance of alcohol, called them a cab before she hailed her own and headed back home.

* * *

Back in Ginza, Andrea unlocked her door and entered her apartment. To her surprise, she found her just-cleaned home in a complete mess. She distractedly hung up her lab coat and purse, tossed her keys on the kitchen counter, and glanced around, wide-eyed. Had the person that left her those messages been behind this? She found that unlikely, as that person never left a single thing out of place. She had been robbed, but of what? Her television was still there, though it seemed as if someone had tried to take it. She didn't have many good books, just some medical dictionaries and journals, and an extensive manga collection from when she was a teenager. She searched and studied each room, finding them a mess, but not a single object was missing. This was really odd, seeing as the crime rate had dropped significantly since 2012.

Andrea moved on to her bathroom, hoping a hot bath would calm her down, since nothing had apparantly happened. She threw her suit jacket into the clothes hamper and began taking the rest of her clothes off. She had just taken off her pants and was about to remove her shirt when she saw it out of the corner of her eye. Taped to the mirror were two pieces of paper, side by side. She took the one on the right first. That message read: "あなたが欲と大食を壊しましたが、来るために別の5があります。 死の7人の神が犯罪者から人生を奪うでしょう。あなたの「治療の接触」は神に対して役に立たなくなるでしょう。"

"Anataga yoku to taishoku wo kowashi mashitaga, kuru tameni betsuno go gaarimasu. Shino shichi nin no kami ga hanzaisha kara jinsei wo ubau deshou. Anatano 'chiryou no sesshoku' ha kami ni taishi te yakunitata nakunarudeshou," Andrea read aloud. "You've defeated the gluttinous and the lustful, but five more have yet to come. The seven gods of death will claim the lives of the sinners. Your 'Healing Touch' will be useless against the gods." Andrea shook with fear and anger. Whoever was leaving these notes knew Andrea, what she did, how she did it, and whom she did it with. He or she knew Andrea's schedule and when they could get in and out without being found.

Unnerved, Andrea grabbed the second note. Oddly, it was written in English. "While you try to defeat us and the Shinigami, we are watching you. We know what is most precious to you, Andrea Stiles. Have you found what we have taken yet? By the way, you are quite lucky that your landlord allows pets."

Andrea was very frightened. She ran from her bathroom, eyes as wide as saucers. She dashed into the kitchen, finding her cat's bowls toppled over, with soft food and water all over the floor. In the dining room, nothing seemed peculiar. The living room was still a mess, but that was it. Andrea ran into her bedroom, knocking the sliding door off of its runner. She searched everywhere, but the ball of gray fur was nowhere to be found. She ran back into the bathroom to pull her pants back on, slid on her shoes at the _genkan_, grabbed her keys, and ran outside.

Andrea kept running at full-speed, clutching the papers for dear life in her left hand and squeezed her keys in her right hand until she thought she broke the skin. She ran until her chest ached and she thought her lungs might burst. When she reached her destination, the security guard saw the state Andrea was in and just let her pass without stopping her. Knowing that waiting for the elevator would make her go crazy, Andrea opted for the stairs, stumbling up six flights and bursting out into the hallway. She swung her head back and forth, searching for room 609. At the end of the hall, there it was. Completely out of breath and exhausted, Andrea pounded on the door. It opened a few moments later, with Derek at the entrance. He had obviously just gotten out of the shower, seeing as he was dripping wet and wearing only a towel. He looked at her through steamed-up glasses with a surprised expression.

"Annie?" he said, confused. "What's wrong?" He noticed that her right hand was dripping blood. She looked up at him with pleading blue eyes. Her face was tearstained and she was sweating.

"Derek," she said between pants, "Gr-Gracie's missing."

* * *

**And that does it for this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry to leave you on such a cliffhanger. I guess this is a bad time to announce that I'm going on a hiatus of an indefinite length. .' Feel free to send me hate mail for being so late on this chapter, then going on hiatus with a cliffhanger. The reason is because I want to finish writing this story and start two other stories with the same quality as this chapter. Raise your hand if you didn't expect Gracie to be kidnapped, er, catnapped! *raises hand* Yeah, that bit completely came out of nowhere. Also, raise your other hand if you enjoyed that little bit of Derek fanservice at the end of the third to last paragraph! *raises other hand* **

**Raise your foot if you thought that the next to last sentence in the sixth from last paragraph was kind of pervy sounding. *raises foot* AND, raise your other foot if you think I'm being irritating. *raises other foot* SORRY, GUYS!**

**Let me know if you have any questions. :)**

**Word Count: 2,722**


	8. To the Readers

Hello, everyone. I'm sure you've been wondering where I've been and whether or not I'm going to post an update to this story anytime soon. Sorry to disappoint you, but it appears that I will not be posting for a while. I'm incredibly busy right now. I'm finishing my senior year of high school, so work is piled up over my head right about now, plus I have four college courses to attend to, and a senior project that desperately needs my attention as it is due April 20th and I haven't even started it. I also have to prepare for my graduation party, prepare my schedule for university next year, get my costumes together for my first anime convention, and study with my group because we're going to a national competition this June. I'm also probably going to get a job once I recover from all the stuff I have to do in June. I'll try to update in May once my college classes are finished and I have nothing to do while at school. Thanks for being patient.

-Kaiyochan211


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